Timeline . Grand Coulee Dam . American Experience . WGBH | PBS Rufus Woods July 18, 1918 Rufus Woods, owner and publisher of the Wenatchee Daily World, publishes a story titled, "Formulate Brand New Idea For Irrigation Grant, Adams, Franklin Counties, Covering Million Acres Or More." The story introduces readers to the idea of a dam at Grand Coulee and an irrigation system in the Columbia Basin. July 1920 The Columbia Basin Survey Commission, formed by the Washington State Legislature, releases a feasibility report declaring that Rufus Woods' plan for putting a dam and irrigation system at Grand Coulee is "infeasible" due to the commission's cost projections (totaling approximately $243 million), and the proposed location of the Grand Coulee Dam. "Every probability points to the site being not suitable for a dam of sufficient height to develop the power required," according to the Commission. 1928 With a $600,000 appropriation from the River and Harbor Bill, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers commissions Major John Butler to begin a survey to comprehensively revisit the plan for a Grand Coulee Dam.

October 29, 1929 The Crash of 1929 leads to a decline in U.S. stock market values and signals the beginning of the Great Depression . The day of the crash is known as "Black Tuesday." March 1932 The Army Corps of Engineers releases a report that favors building a dam at Grand Coulee due to its potential for substantial power generation. The report specifies that the revenue from the dam's power generation could subsidize construction of an irrigation system originating from the dam. June 1933 As part of Franklin D. Roosevelt 's New Deal , Congress passes the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA). The Act establishes the Public Works Administration (PWA), designed to build new infrastructure around the country and to create jobs. Headed by Harold Ickes , the PWA has $3.3 billion to spend on "contracts for the construction of public works" within the next year. June 30, 1933 The Washington State Emergency Relief Commission announces the allocation of $377,000 of unemployment relief funds for preliminary work at Grand Coulee Dam.

An article published in the Spokesman-Review states, "Under the plan outlined by the president... the state must pay the cost of completing preliminary engineering work before a license to build the dam and power plant can be obtained from the federal power commission." Wenatchee World Chief Jim James holds the spike for Gov. Clarence Martin July 16, 1933: Breaking Ground Washington governor Clarence Martin and Jim James, chief of the San Poil Indians from the nearby Colville Reservation, join a gathering of 3,000 citizens along the Columbia River to drive in the ceremonial first stake, marking the beginning of the construction of Grand Coulee Dam. Approximately half of the new dam will be built on the Colville Reservation, which had been established as a Native American Reservation in 1872. The new reservoir will permanently submerge several Colville Indian villages and sacred fishing spots, including Kettle Falls.

July 26, 1933 Having heard from Senator Clarence Dill (D-WA) that the original "high dam" necessary for irrigation would cost $450 million, FDR has the Bureau of Reclamation draft a plan for a "low dam" and reservoir at a cost of $162 million. FDR allocates $63 million in start-up federal funding for the construction of a "low dam" at Grand Coulee. This design calls for a 290-foot tall dam that will be large enough to generate electricity, but not large enough to successfully support irrigation. Around the same time, thousands of men begin arriving at the Grand Coulee Dam construction site, enticed by the promise of jobs. June 18, 1934 Four companies submit bids for the construction of Grand Coulee Dam, including Six Companies, Inc., which is constructing the Hoover Dam in Nevada.

July 13, 1934 With a bid of $29,339,301, MWAK (a joint venture of Silas Mason Company, Inc., Walsh Construction Company, and Atkinson-Kier Company) wins the contract to build a "low dam" at Grand Coulee. MWAK's bid is about 15% lower than the next bidder, Six Companies, Inc. Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture FDR giving a speech at the site August 4, 1934 FDR makes his first visit to the Grand Coulee Dam construction site. October 1934 The first lights turn on in Mason City: a town, named after Silas Mason of MWAK, that houses company employees and officials. University of Washington Jackhammer crew drilling the bedrock behind the cofferdam March 23, 1935: Beginning to Keep the Columbia at Bay The west side cofferdam at the Grand Coulee Dam construction site is completed. Soon after, the water level in Columbia River rises 32 feet.

The cofferdam is a temporary structure that keeps the river at bay on the west side, allowing workers to dig out the mud and expose the granite bedrock on which the dam will rest. August 1935 Under the 1935 River and Harbors Act, Congress officially authorizes construction of Grand Coulee Dam, making it a federally funded project and ultimately providing millions of dollars to increase the height of the dam to 550 feet. Unlike the "low dam," at 290 feet, the upgraded "high dam" will support an irrigation system originating from the Grand Coulee. University of Washington Gov. Martin placing the first concrete in the dam December 6, 1935: The First Bucket of Concrete Washington Governor Clarence Martin spreads the first bucket of concrete on the foundation of the dam, beginning construction of the dam's foundation. A representative from MWAK gives the governor a check for 75 cents, the hourly rate for a common laborer at the site.

December 31, 1936 West side mix plant and high and low crane trestles January 1937 Approximately four years after construction started on the Grand Coulee Dam, concrete trestles span the Columbia River. February 1938 The concrete foundation of the "low dam" is completed 14 months ahead of schedule. To date, 60 men have died at the construction site. March 1938 MWAK and Six Companies, Inc. combine forces, forming Consolidated Builders, Inc. (CBI) and immediately begin construction on the "high dam." Confederated Tribe of Colville A Colville Reservation house is inundated by the rising waters March 1940: The Rising Waters The reservoir at the base of the dam begins to fill at a faster rate than initially anticipated, giving the Colville Indians very short notice of the impending flood that will submerge acres of their land and sacred burial grounds. This reservoir will later be named "Lake Roosevelt." The Bureau of Reclamation hires a Spokane funeral home to move Native American gravesites that are about to be submerged to higher ground. They move 1,300 graves before the rising water forces them to quit.

June 16, 1940 Colville Indians, along with politicians, local reporters, and local whites, gather at Kettle Falls, one of the Colville tribe's renowned fishing spots, which will soon be submerged under Lake Roosevelt. This gathering, known as "The Ceremony of Tears," includes a carnival, an Indian dance, and boxing matches. Archaeologists believe that Kettle Falls had been a renowned fishing spot for over 7,000 years. June 29, 1940 The U.S. passes The Acquisition of Indian Lands for Grand Coulee Dam Act. This act officially entitles some of the Colville reservation land to the U.S. government for the purposes of the dam, though much of it is under water already. Under this act, Native Americans who have been forced to relocate are supposed to be financially compensated. January 21, 1941 Despite ongoing construction on the "high dam," officials activate Grand Coulee's first generator and provide the first power from the dam.

February 15, 1941 The Grand Coulee High School marching band on the bridge March 22, 1941: The Opening Ceremony Eight years after beginning construction, the Grand Coulee Dam is formally dedicated in front of a crowd of 8,000. The Grand Coulee High School marching band leads a parade to celebrate the official start of the dam's in-house generators. Harold Ickes venerates the dam, calling it "the greatest single structure man has built." May 1941 For its documentary film promoting the benefits of the public power created by Grand Coulee Dam, the Bonneville Power Authority commissions popular folk singer Woody Guthrie to compose 26 songs, including "Roll On, Columbia, Roll On." December 12, 1941 Consolidated Builders, Inc. (CBI) announces that the last section of concrete has been placed, and that the dam is officially completed. The finished dam contains approximately 11 million cubic yards of concrete. March 10, 1943 The "Grand Coulee Dam Project" is officially renamed the "Columbia Basin Project" and signed and authorized by President Roosevelt.

With the dam fully constructed and functioning, the project shifts focus from dam-building to irrigation. Congress authorizes an average of $30 million a year for 20 years for the construction of the Columbia Basin irrigation system. The project's plans include an extensive system that will eventually provide irrigation development for approximately one million acres. WGBH Farming in many parts of the Northwest would not be possible today without irrigation May 1952 The Bureau of Reclamation promotes the Columbia Basin Project with the "Farm-In-A-Day" publicity stunt, in which 50,000 people watch as dozens of volunteers construct a fully functioning ranch in 24-hours for the Dunn family. Canals constructed by the Columbia Basin Project will irrigate the new farm. That spring, the irrigation system will carry water from Grand Coulee Dam to 66,000 acres of farmland. By 2012, the acreage will increase more than ten fold to 671,000. Grand Coulee Dam Cultural History | Bureau of Reclamation Contact Us Cultural History Several tribes living in the areas now occupied by Grand Coulee Dam and Lake Roosevelt have called this place home for over 11,000 years.

These tribes include the Sanpoil, Nespelem, Colville, Lakes and Spokane. For these tribes and others that lived along the Columbia River, salmon was the primary source of food and the basis for trade. Kettle Falls, located 100 miles north of Grand Coulee Dam’s current location, was the second largest salmon fishery on the Columbia River. When fish migrated to Kettle Falls each year beginning in May, tribes from around the Northwest (Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Canada) gathered to share in the abundance of salmon and to engage in trade. Little Falls and Spokane Falls, both located on the Spokane River, were also important salmon fisheries for the Spokane Tribe and other tribes. In the late 1700s, European and American fur traders visited the Northwest Coast and joined in the regional trading system that Native Americans had established thousands of years before. These traders specialized in the exchange of manufactured goods, especially metal, for pelts obtained by the tribes. In June 1811, David Thompson , a fur trader and explorer with the North West Company, traversed the Columbia River from Kettle Falls to the Pacific Ocean.

Thompson recorded his journey down the Columbia River and left extensive journals and maps documenting what he observed during his travels. His entries include a description of the Kettle Falls fishery and his encounters with the Sanpoil, Lakes and Colville tribes. Throughout the 1800s, settlers and gold miners from America and around the world moved into northeastern Washington State. In 1872, President Grant established the Colville Reservation by Executive Order and eventually 12 tribes would be consolidated onto the Reservation. It would become known as the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation . Nine years later, in 1881, President Hayes established the Spokane Reservation through another executive order. It is the home of the Spokane Tribe of Indians . By the late 1880’s, a few ranchers inhabited the Grand Coulee Dam region. The ranchers encountered severe winters and hot dry summers that made agriculture difficult. The only respite they found was at select flats along the Columbia and Spokane rivers where water could easily be drawn of the river. The early farms and orchards developed at these locations quickly demonstrated the potential productivity of local agriculture where water was available.

Building upon this potential, settlers and tribal members developed ten towns along the Columbia River stretching from the Grand Coulee to the Canadian border during the period from 1870 to the 1920s. The success of irrigation was noteworthy and as early as 1918, locals began proposing two different plans for irrigating central eastern Washington with water from the Columbia River. One plan, the “gravity plan,” involved transporting water by a canal system from Lake Pend Oreille. The other plan advocated building a dam at the head of the Grand Coulee, a large canyon that resulted from the Ice Age Floods , and pumping the water from the Columbia River into the northern half of the Grand Coulee. The federal government chose to pursue the latter “pumping plan” and the Bureau of Reclamation began construction of Grand Coulee Dam in 1933. The construction of Grand Coulee Dam drastically changed the salmon-based culture of the native peoples. It blocked spawning salmon from returning to the upper Columbia River. Rising waters behind the dam submerged landforms like Kettle Falls. This loss of resources greatly impacted the tribes who centered their life on seasonal runs of migratory fish. The dam and resulting reservoir also impacted orchard-based agriculture.

Towns like Peach and Plum, originally build along the Columbia River to take advantage of the river irrigation, disappeared beneath the rising water of Lake Roosevelt . At the damsite, the Bureau of Reclamation and contractors building the dam developed towns to support the construction. These towns, though not as numerous today as they were during the boom days of the original construction, have continued to provide homes for workers who operate and maintain the dam. Today, the economy of the Grand Coulee Dam area is dependent upon the dam for its power and irrigation and for the tourism that Lake Roosevelt and Banks Lake have generated. Related Links Grand Coulee Dam---Bureau of Reclamation Historic Dams and Water Projects--Managing Water in the West Discover Our Shared Heritage Travel Itinerary Bureau of Reclamation Historic Dams and Water Projects Managing Water in the West Grand Coulee Dam Washington Grand Coulee Dam, on the Columbia River west of Spokane, Washington, is one of the largest structures ever built by mankind--a mass of concrete standing 550 feet high and 5,223 feet long--or just shy of a mile.

Bureau of Reclamation Grand Coulee Dam, on the Columbia River west of Spokane, Washington, is one of the largest structures ever built by mankind--a mass of concrete standing 550 feet high and 5,223 feet long, or just shy of a mile. Grand Coulee contains 12 million cubic yards of concrete, or enough to build a highway from Seattle to Miami. More massive than the Great Pyramid of Giza, Grand Coulee is listed by the American Society of Civil Engineers as one of the seven civil engineering wonders of the United States. Grand Coulee's reservoir, Franklin D. Roosevelt Lake, stretches 150 miles north, almost to the Canadian border. A concrete gravity dam, Grand Coulee took eight years to build, employed thousands of men during the Great Depression and, when completed in 1942, provided the enormous electrical power necessary to make aluminum, so essential for World War II production of planes and ships. It was Grand Coulee, as well, that powered the production of plutonium at the nearby Hanford Site, which figured prominently in the making of the atomic bomb.

So grand was Grand Coulee Dam that in 1941 folk singer Woody Guthrie wrote “The Song of the Grand Coulee Dam” (though he was paid to do so under contract with the Bonneville Power Administration.) “Biggest thing built by the hand of a Man,” Guthrie sang. “Power that sings, boys, turbines that whine. Waters back up the Canadian Line.” Appropriate as the word grand is for the dam, the name Grand Coulee actually refers to a unique geological feature created thousands of years ago when Ice Age glaciers blocked the ancient riverbed of the Columbia River. When water eventually traveled under the ice dam, great floods scoured out hundreds of miles of deep gulches, or coulees, in the Columbia River Basin. One of these, the Grand Coulee, is four miles wide and bordered on three sides by steep cliffs. A local proposal to dam the Columbia at the head of the Grand Coulee dated to 1918, but the idea faced strong competition from another proposal that called for an irrigation canal to be built from the Pend Oreille River in northern Idaho. Proponents of this latter “gravity plan” argued that the hydroelectricity generated from the dam was not needed.

Many studies followed, including one by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which took Grand Coulee’s side, recommending a high dam at the site and the pumping of irrigation water up to the surrounding countryside. This recommendation took hold with the Bureau of Reclamation, which was promoting construction of multiple-use dams, through which the production of hydroelectric power could produce revenue to help repay the construction cost of a project. (The Reclamation Act requires that beneficiaries of a project repay those costs, and a multi-purpose project reduced the payment burden on irrigators.) The recommendation found traction with the 1932 election of Franklin D. Roosevelt, who took office in a time of great dust bowls and economic depression. Roosevelt launched federal program after federal program in an attempt to spur the economy by “priming the pump” and providing jobs for out-of-work Americans. Unprecedented funds flowed to the Bureau of Reclamation as it became a key player in the New Deal’s Public Works Administration (PWA), which spent “big bucks on big projects,” Grand Coulee Dam among them. Jackhammer crews drilling blasting holes at Grand Coulee Dam, 1938.

Bureau of Reclamation Groundbreaking ceremonies took place on July 16, 1933, just days before funds were approved for another dam on the Columbia River--the huge Bonneville Dam, to be built downstream by the Corps of Engineers. Many other dams would follow on the Columbia, which traces its headwaters to the Canadian Rockies. The river crosses into the United States in eastern Washington and flows 400 miles through the state before taking a big turn west, forming the border with Oregon as it heads toward the Pacific Ocean. Originally, Grand Coulee was to be a low dam (with plans to raise it higher at a later time). The contract for a low dam, awarded on July 13, 1934, went to the Mason-Walsh-Atkinson-Kier Company (MWAK). They quickly set about designing and building Mason City, touted as the world’s first “all electric city,” to house workers. Other towns sprang up, including Engineers Town, built by Reclamation to house its engineers, and the rowdy Grand Coulee, known for its taverns and gambling halls.

From the town of Odair, rails extended to the construction site, where MWAK used an innovative conveyor belt, rather than trucks, to carry the tons of rock and earth excavated each day. Meanwhile, at Reclamation’s experimental laboratory in Colorado, engineers tested different plans for diverting the Columbia so construction could begin. The selected design, William Joe Simonds writes, was a 3,000-foot-long, U-shaped, steel pile coffer dam, one for the river’s west side and one for the east, containing interlocking cells that were filled with rock and earth from the excavations. The dam, as well, was to be built in two sections--west and east. Technical problems associated with plans to raise the low dam at a later date, as well as the low dam’s use for power only, led, in June 1935, to the decision to make Grand Coulee a high dam. That summer MWAK constructed two cement plants, one for each side of the dam, capable of producing 640 cubic yards (or 129,338 gallons) of concrete every hour.

As workers excavated, exposing the bedrock foundation for the dam, others drilled test holes from 30 to 200 feet deep. Then, men were lowered into the holes to inspect the quality of the rock. Twenty to 30-foot deep grout holes also were drilled; the grout pumped in to provide a secure seal beneath the dam. Concrete placement began in the fall of 1935 but, as winter set in, the air turned so cold that several concrete pours actually froze and had to be blasted away and replaced. In January, concrete work halted altogether until spring, when it picked up again, only to halt again the next winter, then pick up in the spring and summer at ever increasing speeds, setting several records for concrete placement. “MWAK’s record was remarkable,” Simonds writes. Nearly 11,000 men worked more than 27 million hours to divert the river, excavate the foundation, and place concrete. Forty-five workers died in the process. A 150,000 horsepower waterwheel for a generating unit is unloaded at Grand Coulee Dam, June 25, 1947.

Bureau of Reclamation On May 12, 1938, Reclamation received the completed foundation from MWAK, and a new contract was issued to Consolidated Builders Inc. (CBI) of Oakland, Calif., whose job it was to complete the dam to its full height of 550 feet and build the Left Powerhouse. (The company had changed its name from Interior Construction at the orders of the Interior Department.) As CBI took over concrete work, Coulee stood an average of 177 feet above the bedrock. Numerous subcontractors performed other tasks, including the Western Pipe and Steel Company of California, which contracted with Reclamation to manufacture and install the dam’s mammoth penstocks, which are pipes that carry water through the dam to operate the turbines that produce hydroelectric power. Measuring 18 feet in diameter, Grand Coulee’s original 18 penstocks were so huge they had to be fabricated onsite, in a building as long as a football field. Sixteen million pounds of steel were shipped in from the Midwest and South, the mills transporting the steel in semi-circular rolls so it could fit through rail yards and tunnels along the way.

The Assembly Building, the building used to fabricate the penstocks, is still standing. As the dam rose block by block from its bedrock foundation, construction proceeded on its two powerhouses and a pump station that one day would send irrigation water up the hillside to project lands. Like MWAK, CBI struggled with the cold in winter, as well as the heat produced as the concrete cured. In a process first used at Owyhee Dam in Oregon and also at Hoover Dam, more than 2,000 miles of one-inch cooling pipes were embedded in Coulee to carry away the heat generated during the concrete curing process and prevent cracking. By April 1939, more than 5,500 men were employed placing concrete. At one point in May, crews worked non-stop for 24 hours, placing an average of one cubic yard (202 gallons) of concrete every four seconds, setting a record. In September 1939, CBI placed 400,000 cubic yards of concrete, breaking a previous record set by MWAK.

The contract for the first three, 108,000 kilowatt generators at Grand Coulee went to Westinghouse at a cost of about $2.6 million each. At the time, the generators were the largest ever constructed. The turbines, built by Newport News Ship Building and Dry Dock Company, also were a record size. On October 4, 1941--just two months before America’s entry into World War II, Coulee’s first generator was placed into service. On December 12, CBI announced that the last concrete had been placed and, on January 1, 1942, Reclamation accepted the dam from CBI. The irrigation benefits of Grand Coulee would have to wait because the pumps were not installed and all of the dam’s power was required for wartime production to defeat the Axis Powers. The dam’s second and third generators were in service by April 7, 1942, and completion of the next six units was given high priority. So urgent were wartime needs that Reclamation looked to the unfinished Shasta Dam in California for help.

Because two of Shasta’s 75,000 kilowatt generators were in storage, awaiting completion of the dam, Reclamation decided to use them In the 1950s, the American Society of Civil Engineers listed Grand Coulee as one of the seven civil engineering wonders of the United States. Bureau of Reclamation temporarily at Coulee, even though Shasta’s generators were designed to rotate counter-clockwise, while Coulee’s turned clockwise. Reclamation solved the problem by adapting Coulee’s generator pits and rerouting the penstocks. Shasta’s generators went into service in February and May 1943. Grand Coulee played an important role in America’s amazing rollout of warplanes and ships. Coulee powered the Boeing Aircraft Works near Seattle and shipyards in Vancouver, Washington, and Portland, Oregon. Airplanes required aluminum, and by war’s end, Grand Coulee was playing a huge part in a Pacific Northwest that produced more than one-third of the nation’s aluminum. The achievement is even more remarkable considering that in 1940, as Simonds notes, the region had no aluminum-manufacturing capabilities. With the end of World War II, the economy in the Northwest continued to boom.

Water pumped from Grand Coulee began reaching Columbia Basin lands in 1948 and today irrigates about 670,000 acres, although the project was designed to deliver a full water supply to 1.1 million acres. In a region once used only for dry land farming and livestock grazing, crops grown today range from forage and cereal grains to fruit, vegetables, and specialty crops such as mint and wine grapes. In 1967, construction began on the massive, 20-story-high, Third Power Plant, and today Grand Coulee is the largest hydropower producer in the United States, producing 21 billion kilowatt hours of electricity a year, or about 11 percent of the power requirements of the Pacific Northwest. Grand Coulee still ranks among the largest dams and top producers of electricity in the world, although it has been eclipsed in recent years by dams such China’s Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River, which has been criticized for its impacts on people and the ecosystem. Grand Coulee also has faced criticism, most notably for its impact on West Coast salmon and steelhead populations.

Plan your visit Grand Coulee Dam is on the main stem of the Columbia River about 90 miles west of Spokane, WA. From Spokane, follow U.S. 2 west to Wilbur. Turn north onto WA 21 and then west on WA 174, which proceeds to the town of Grand Coulee. Turn right onto Midway Ave./WA 155 and proceed 1.6 miles to the dam. A visitor center at the base of the dam offers tours of the Third Power Plant, hands-on exhibits, and a free, nightly laser light show from Memorial Day weekend through September 30. Visitor center hours are: 8:30am to 11pm, May 29-July 31; 8:30am to 10:30pm, August 1-31; 8:30am to 9:30pm, September 1-30; and 9:00am to 5:00pm, October 1-May 27. The center is open daily except New Year’s Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas.

For more information on the visitor center or dam, click here for the Bureau of Reclamation's Grand Coulee Dam website. The Grand Coulee Dam has been documented by the National Park Service's Historic American Engineering Record . There are also many recreational opportunities at Franklin D. Roosevelt Lake . American Experience | Grand Coulee Dam Posted by WMHT Web Editor on Grand Coulee Dam - Preview Watch Sunday, February 23, 2014 at 3:30pm on WMHT TV. During the darkest days of the Depression when construction was started on Grand Coulee Dam, everything about it was described in superlatives. It would be the “Biggest Thing on Earth”, the salvation of the common man, a dam and irrigation project that would make the desert bloom, a source of cheap power that would boost an entire region of the country. Of the many public works projects of the New Deal, Grand Coulee Dam loomed largest in America’s imagination, promising to fulfill President Franklin Roosevelt’s vision for a “planned promised land” where hard-working farm families would finally be free from the drought and dislocation caused by the elements.

Not surprisingly, the reality of Grand Coulee could never live up to its mythic image, the one celebrated by folksinger Woody Guthrie in his famous song, Roll On, Columbia. The dam was controversial from the start, opposed by the power companies in Seattle and Spokane, and by congressmen back East, who called the project a “White Elephant in the Desert” with no market for its power or irrigation. Its prodigious output of electricity would trigger an astonishing transformation of the Pacific Northwest, fueling the burgeoning cities of Portland and Seattle. A closer look at the Columbia basin, however, would reveal the tragic casualties left in the wake of Grand Coulee’s massive spillway. The dam and reservoir had inundated whole towns, dislocated the tribes of the Colville Indian Reservation, submerged sacred Indian burial grounds and time-honored fishing sites, and obliterated one of the greatest natural fish populations in the world by denying Columbia River salmon access to their spawning grounds in the upper reaches of the river. Although the waters it captured would, in fact, generate seemingly limitless amounts of clean hydropower, and create one of the largest agricultural irrigation projects in the nation, the dam left a complicated and controversial legacy.

In the end, the dam would be seen by many as a monument to noble ideals and unintended consequences. About the Columbia River: Grand Coulee Dam to Bonneville Dam | Columbia River | US EPA About the Columbia River: Grand Coulee Dam to Bonneville Dam Learn about key projects in other parts of the basin Lower Columbia: Bonneville Dam to the Pacific Ocean The middle portion of the Columbia River runs over 450 miles from Grand Coulee Dam to Bonneville Dam, where the river serves as the boundary between Oregon and Washington. The Snake River flows in from Idaho and is the largest tributary of the Columbia River. The Snake was once home to at least a third of the salmon run in the Basin. Below are summaries of key EPA projects in the middle section of the Columbia River basin. Hanford Cleanup Site in Richland, Washington The U.S. Department of Energy Hanford Site, located near the City of Richland, Washington, was established to produce nuclear materials for national defense. The Hanford Site was placed on EPA's National Priorities List of contaminated sites in 1989.

The Department of Energy entered into the Tri-Party Agreement with EPA and the Washington Department of Ecology, establishing the legal framework and schedule for cleaning up Hanford. EPA has an office in Richland to help oversee the cleanup. EPA's role in cleaning up the Hanford Site Walla Walla River Basin Pesticide Stewardship Project Monitoring in two tributaries in the Walla Walla River watershed near Milton-Freewater, Oregon showed a stunning 90 to 95% reduction in the average concentrations of chemical chlorpyrifos (Lorsban) - an insecticide used to control pests on fruit trees and other crops - between 2006 and 2011. The dramatic reduction coincides with a wide range of pesticides management practices implemented by farmers since 2006, including: Reducing pesticide drift, which happens when pesticides are applied in ways that allow chemical droplets to move off the farm site, such as during windy weather; Installing weather stations to ensure pesticides are applied when weather conditions are best; Using non-chemical pest management techniques such as disrupting the mating cycles of pest insects; Using less toxic alternative chemicals to control pests.

Similar dramatic reductions in average concentrations of the herbicide diuron (Karmex) were also observed in those same tributaries between 2009 and 2013. The local irrigation districts in the areas reduced the use of diuron by relying on mechanical controls for weeds on ditch banks, as well as occasional spot spraying of a less toxic and persistent herbicide. The pesticides monitoring was part of an Oregon Pesticide Stewardship Partnership Project - a collaborative program funded largely by EPA grants that involves participation by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, watershed councils, Oregon State University Extension Service, Oregon Department of Agriculture, agricultural producer groups, tribes, soil and water conservation districts, and local chemical suppliers. The program also helps organize pesticide collection events for old, unusable pesticides that were used in the past - such as DDT - to make sure they do not get into the environment. In July of 2014, over 15,000 pounds of waste pesticides were collected from growers and pesticide applicators on the Oregon side of the Walla Walla Watershed. Questions?

Contact Kevin Masterson (masterson.kevin@deq.state.or.us), Oregon Department of Environmental Quality; or Mary Lou Soscia (soscia.marylou@epa.gov), EPA. Indian Creek Watershed Outreach in Nampa, Idaho Indian Creek, which flows through Nampa, Idaho, is a tributary of the Snake River. EPA has awarded the City of Nampa two grants, a small Urban Waters grant and a Special Project Environmental Justice Grant to develop a public education and outreach campaign on stormwater management focusing on the Hispanic community (the Boise/Nampa/Caldwell area is home to one of the fastest-growing Hispanic populations in Idaho). As a result, Nampa's Stormwater Program Team is working to increase the community's awareness of stormwater impacts on water quality in Indian Creek and other local water bodies. These efforts include a bilingual stormwater website which won the 2012 Idaho Press Club competition, bilingual tip sheets for stormwater management, a bilingual storybook that teaches children about the impacts of stormwater runoff, and bilingual stormwater/watershed educational signage at City Acres Park, a popular local park adjacent to Indian Creek.

Corporate partners and the local school district are helping with stream cleanup days to foster increased community involvement. EPA has continued a partnership with the City of Nampa to provide EPA Urban Waters funding to continue work efforts to increase community awareness and participation. Grand Coulee Dam Grand Coulee Dam: Leaving a Legacy by Christian McClung Cover of a promotional pamphlet about the Grand Coulee Dam, made possible by the New Deal's public works funding. The Dam made Washington's contribution to World War II's industry possible, and remade the land, economy, and geography of the state. (Image courtesy of the University of Washington Library Digital Collection.) The construction of the Grand Coulee Dam on the Columbia River was the crown jewel of President Roosevelt’s public works projects in the Pacific Northwest. Though it was built more than seventy years ago, it is still a massive and productive asset that will have an impact on many generations to come. It took forty years for the proposal of the dam to get the funding required to begin construction, as the hope of irrigation to more than five hundred thousand acres and massive hydroelectric power production were not enough for the dam to gain the full support of the federal government.

Ultimately, the Great Depression and President Roosevelt’s subsequent New Deal program gave concrete backing to the Grand Coulee Dam, as dam construction promised long-term employment for thousands and a continuing economic asset to the region. This paper will give a background on the dam, the politics involved with its proposal and construction, its impact on employment and the economy, and a comparison between public works projects during the Great Depression and public works projects proposed today. LEARN MORE • Civilian Conservation Corps Camps--Map and Database Long before the construction of the Grand Coulee Dam, farmers in the Western half of the United States wanted irrigation to make the dry parts of their land flourish and become more fertile. [1] In the central part of Washington State, farmers were faced with a harsh climate that brought insufficient rainfall to produce healthy crops. They understood that proper irrigation would lead to productive fields, which would lead to a prosperous crop, healthy economy, and ultimately a self-sufficient way of life. [2] Local citizens and businessmen understood that a massive dam structure on the Columbia River could be the much-needed solution that would provide the water required to achieve this self-sufficiency.

If built to its full extent, a large dam could even help pay for its own cost, as electricity could be sold to the surrounding areas. Rufus Woods, editor of the Wenatchee Daily World and one of Grand Coulee Dam’s greatest proponents argued, “As stated by Mr. Sullivan, the project would be worthy of consideration as a purely irrigation enterprise. But with the great depletion of the fuel and oil supplies of the country, the development of electrical energy to the amount of 1,000,000 horsepower up to a tremendous total of 3,800,000 horsepower becomes added interest.” [3] A.H. Smythe and his wife with a WPA administrator, in Kettle Falls, WA, April 12, 1939. The Dam would place the Smythe home completely underwater, though Smythe was quoted as saying "Let 'er come. I've got me a piece of ground back yonder from the high water mark and I've got most of my house already built on it. The water can't get here too quick to suite me.

It will be just like living on a lake." (Image courtesy of the University of Washington Library Digital Collection.) Despite the overwhelming positives of constructing the dam, there were several obstacles that delayed construction. The idea of building a dam to help with irrigation challenges was first proposed in a copy of the Coulee City News in 1892. [4] The dam, however, was not the only proposal of how to irrigate the Columbia Basin; other ideas that had the support of influential politicians and local citizens. One plan aimed to use artesian wells to irrigate the Columbia Basin, while a more popular idea was to build a long gravity canal from lakes in Idaho for irrigation. The debate between building a dam versus constructing a gravity canal lasted for nearly fifteen years until the October 1931, when the proposal to build a dam won the support of the Army Corp of Engineers.

[5] As the Seattle Post-Intelligencer put it, “Army engineers agree with the reclamation bureau engineers that the cheapest most feasible plan for developing the Columbia Basin is by erection of a great dam at Grand Coulee.” [6] Even after the long-awaited army report settled the debate over the most effective method of irrigating the Columbia Basin, the biggest challenge still remained. Securing the necessary funding to build a structure of the size and complexity of the Grand Coulee Dam proved to be a major challenge. Most people living outside of Central Washington simply did not understand the benefits of building it, especially when it meant spending millions of dollars in a lowly populated area during a poor economy. William Miner put it best when he said, “To a great part of the nation, which knew nothing of irrigation and cared less, the whole project was a giant “pork barrel” scheme of the Pacific Northwest.” [7] At the time, most did not realize that it would take the Great Depression and the election of Franklin D. Roosevelt to get the federally appropriated funds required to build the dam. Prior to the Great Depression and Franklin D.

Roosevelt’s election, Presidents Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover had heard of the Grand Coulee Dam proposal. President Hoover was involved in extensive talks regarding the development of plans and construction of the dam, but ultimately never gathered the necessary funds. While President Hoover was courted strongly by dam supporters, including Rufus Woods, he eventually sided with his Secretary of Agriculture Arthur M. Hyde, who believed that there was no need for additional farmlands at a time when the economy was struggling and demand was already being met. [8] After nearly forty years of proposals, meetings with politicians, and vigorous debate, ground had yet to be broken on the Grand Coulee Dam. The election of President Roosevelt in 1932 brought a new sense of optimism to advocates of the dam. After years of delays and setbacks, the state of Washington realized they had a strong shot at getting the dam proposal passed with the help of President Roosevelt, who was a major proponent of public works projects.

Understanding the great opportunity before them, “The State of Washington, in strengthening its bargaining role for the project, put forth $377,000 for continuing studies, surveys, investigations and specifications for a low dam.” [9] In an urgent message to its readers, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer said, “Now it is up to all of us to induce congress at the coming session to agree to endorse the project, adopt it, and make initial appropriations for its start.” [10] After months of negotiations and debate, on July 27, 1933, President Roosevelt appropriated $63,000,000 for the beginning stages of the Grand Coulee Dam. [11] President Franklin D. Roosevelt's visit to the Grand Coulee Dam construction site, October 2, 1937. (Image courtesy of the University of Washington Library Digital Collection.) Two months after a contract was awarded to build the dam, President Roosevelt made a trip out to Grand Coulee to visit the dam site along with Governor Martin, Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes, and his wife Eleanor.

[12] A crowd of 20,000 people were in attendance to hear the President give a speech. Many were there to thank him for his vote of confidence, as well as lobby for continued funding to complete the entire dam project. In his closing remarks to the massive crowd, President Roosevelt said, “I leave here today with the feeling that this work is well undertaken; that we are going ahead with a useful project, and we are going to see it through for the benefit of our country.” [13] At the core of President Roosevelt’s support for the dam was that its construction would provide much-needed employment in a struggling economy. In a time when 25% unemployment was gripping the nation, the prospect of suddenly employing thousands of workers to build a strategic and sustainable resource was overwhelmingly attractive. The construction of Grand Coulee Dam was exactly the type of project that Roosevelt envisioned when he created the Public Works Administration in June of 1933. As specified in the National Industrial Recovery Act, the Public Works Administration was allotted several billion dollars to be used for major construction projects that would provide employment and improve the welfare of the public.

[14] President Roosevelt viewed major public works projects as a way to improve the country’s infrastructure while providing jobs to those who were out of work. Without President Roosevelt’s vision and the creation of the Public Works Administration, it is hard to imagine that the Grand Coulee Dam would have ever received federal funding. The employment numbers during the construction of the Grand Coulee Dam were staggering. As stated in the pamphlet Grand Coulee Dam and a Last Frontier, “During the three year construction period of MWAK, the payroll reached a peak of 6,000 men, exclusive of the Bureau of Reclamation, as well as numerous public utilities such as telephone, light, water and transportation companies.” [15] Including all other support positions related to the construction of the dam, employment was thought to be as high as 8,800. [16] Due to the large employment numbers, payroll figures were also impressive.

In September of 1937, the Kellogg Evening News said, “An average of nearly $800,000 a month was paid this spring to workers employed by the Mason-Walsh-Atkinson-Kier Company, Grand Coulee contractors, the bureau of reclamation has disclosed.” [17] When the employment figures were totaled from 1933–1939, the Bureau of Reclamation Histories put the total man-hours at 37,000,119 and compensation at $34,650,244. [18] Total cost figures for the construction of the dam from the time period of 1933–1986 is estimated at $1,687,000,000. [19] The Grand Coulee Dam’s positive impact on employment reached much farther than those directly working on the construction of the dam. States besides Washington benefited due to the sheer size and scope of the project. It was estimated that the foundation contract alone included $16,000,000 worth of purchases of materials and equipment from states outside of Washington.

[20] Due to the massive labor force needed to build such a massive structure, the local towns thrived with the increased worker population. Engineers and government workers had homes provided for them in the town of Coulee Dam, while other homes for key officials were provided at Mason City. [21] Local and state government played an important role in providing for the rest of the dam workers. As described in the Grand Coulee Dam and a Last Frontier, “The overflow, for lack of any provision for them, sought and built places to live in the towns “on the hill” where schools and churches were provided with state government assistance, and where private capital provided theatres, hotels, fraternal halls, stores, shops, and so forth, for their spiritual and material welfare.” [22] The widespread positive economic effect the Grand Coulee Dam had on the region is truly immeasurable. Ceremony for the first water delivery from the Grand Coulee Dam for the irrigation of the Columbia Basin, May 7, 1951. (Image courtesy of the University of Washington Library Digital Collection.) Beyond the employment and economic boon provided by the construction of the Grand Coulee Dam, there have been other lasting legacies.

After construction was complete in late 1942, the dam had an immediate impact in helping the United States win World War II. As President Harry Truman said, “Without Grand Coulee and Bonneville dams it would have been almost impossible to win this war.” [23] Specifically, the Grand Coulee Dam provided the electricity needed to produce aluminum, which was crucial for the airplane construction taking place at Boeing in Seattle. With no capacity to produce aluminum in 1940, the Pacific Northwest was producing 36% of the nation’s aluminum output by 1946. It is estimated that one third of the aluminum used in aircraft during World War II came from the power generated by the Grand Coulee Dam. [24] Also, the Grand Coulee Dam provided the power needed for the plutonium production reactors at the nuclear production facilities at the Hanford site. Today, the Grand Coulee Dam stands as one of the top producers of hydroelectric power in the world and is still the largest concrete structure ever built in the United States. It provides irrigation to more than 2,000 farms and the revenue from hydroelectric power production has more than paid for its cost.

[25] The adverse affects of the dam have been numerous as well. The erection of the Grand Coulee Dam blocked the passage of ocean-going salmon, which severely hurt the local Native American tribes. Other problems such as downstream erosion have also negatively affected peoples’ view of the dam. [26] Today, the United States is faced with many of the same economic challenges as it was during the 1930s. While unemployment today is not nearly as high as it was during the Great Depression, many Americans have lost their jobs and seen their retirement accounts and home values plummet. In a time like this, it is hard not to compare the ascension and election of President Obama to that of President Roosevelt. Both men were elected during times of economic hardship and both were Democrats vowing to take a Keynesian approach to stimulating the economy. While many would expect President Obama’s fiscal stimulus to be similar to President Roosevelt’s New Deal, there are some clear differences. President Roosevelt’s New Deal authorized the construction of major public works projects such as the Grand Coulee Dam and Bay Bridge, whereas President Obama’s stimulus plan appropriates money for improving existing roads, bridges, sewer lines, and schools.

[27] There is nothing in Obama’s plan remotely close to the ambitious scope and nature of the construction of the Grand Coulee Dam. Roosevelt created and approved projects that took many years to complete and provided long-term employment, while Obama is looking to approve projects that can be completed quickly and have an immediate impact. Roosevelt and Obama are similar, however, in their ultimate goal of creating jobs and pumping money into the economy in order to stimulate growth. [28] Both took the Presidency in extraordinarily difficult times and both had the support of a hopeful nation yearning for recovery. Built more than seventy years ago, the Grand Coulee Dam remains an effective producer of hydroelectric power and irrigation for the Columbia Basin. Without President Roosevelt’s vision for increased employment and economic stimulus, it is probable that the dam would never have been built. Today it stands as a lasting symbol of the New Deal and the public works projects that contributed to the recovery from the Great Depression. Without question, it will continue its desired purpose and have a lasting impact on many decades and generations to come.

Question: On which American river is the Grand Coulee Dam
Answer: Columbia